Machine for making paper sticks



Nov. 3, 1964 J. 5. PELLICONE ETAL 3,155,015

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MACHINE FOR MAKING PAPER STICKS Filed Jan. 24, 1963 17 Sheets-Sheet 17United States Patent 3,155,016 MAQi-HNE EUR MAKENG PAPER STICKS iiosephS. 'Peliicone, Iericho, Edwin N. Dejewski, New

York, and Salvatore Lo Piccolo, Jericho, N.Y., assignors toChesebrough-donds inn, Long island @ity, NYC,

a corporation of New York Filed den. 24, 1963, Ser. No. zsasse 2.9(ilaims. (ill. 93 d) This invention relates to improvements in automaticmachines of the rotary type for making paper sticks of varied diametersand lengths. Such sticks are used as confection sticks and forcotton-tipped swabs or applicators.

Most of these swabs have heretofore been made with sticks or stems ofwood, and, as is well known, they have tips of soft fibrous materialsuch as cotton secured to and projecting from one or both ends. A paperstick made by curling a section of paper sheet material of predetermineddimensions and rolling it to form a tight coil, and to compact it to apredetermined diameter, has certain advantages over the wood stick, suchfor example as flexibility and freedom from splintering.

The object of the present invention is to provide a machine for makingpaper sticks or stems of this sort and of various sizes for swabs andother articles these sticks being of uniform size and quality and beingmade automatically at a high rate of production. The invention also aimsto provide a machine which is compact and occupies a minimum of floorspace which is easy to adjust and requires little attention, so that oneattendant can care for several macmnes.

The machine includes in accordance with the invention a generallycircular channel of diminishing width from the intake end to thedischarge end and into which successive curled sections of paper arefed, and along which they are rolled and compacted to form the papersticks. The inner surface of such forming channel is constituted of thecylindrical face of a wheel or drum which rotates continuously at auniform speed. The outer surface of the channel is formed by a series ofrigid stationary sector members which are arranged around thecircumference of the drum. The width of the wheel face and that of thesector members correspond with the length of the paper sticks to beproduced.

These sector members, generally speaking, are arranged in end-to-endrelationship so as to form with the cylindrical surface of the drum thecircular stick-forming channel which is somewhat less in length than thecomplete circumference of the Wheel. Independent supporting mechanism isprovided for each of the sector memers, advantageously three in number,so as to support the members in such a way as to cause the formingchannel to be reduced in thickness from the intake end thereof to thevicinity of the discharge end.

Special feeding, severin and curling mechanism is provided for feeding acontinuous web of paper to the severing mechanism which cuts the webinto paper sections of uniform length. The feeding mechanism includesmeans for simultaneously feeding and crimping the successive strips orsections whereby these sections are curled, and their forward ends aresuccessively introduced into the intake end of the'circular formingchannel.

The surfaces of the forming channel, that is, the surface of therotating drum and the surface of the stationary sector members areprovided with suitable friction material, advantageously abrasivematerial, so as to prevent slippage and cause the initially curled papersections to ond sector members a moistening device is arranged, and

moisture is applied to each paper roll as it moves across this device,this moisture serving to cause the starch in the paper to adhesivelybind together the contiguous convolutions of the roll.

The mounting for the final sector member at the 'delivery end of thechannel is advantageously made to form with the surface of the wheelthroughout the final portion of its length, a channel which is ofuniform thickness so that no further reduction in diameter of thepapersticks is brought about as they travel along this portion of the wheel,but repeated rotation of the sticks in this portion of the formingchannel imparts uniform roundness to the sticks. Also the starchadhesive is permitted to partially set without the shifting of anyconvolution of paper upon its neighbors. The sticks are discharged ontoa suitable endless conveyor which removes them from the apparatus.

A serrated knife is used to sever the web of-paper into the papersections so that the sections have a serrated edge at each end. Thetongues of the serrations facilitate the adhering of the outer end ofthe paper'section to the adjacent layer of paper. The rolling of thesticks while maintaining the diameter uniform compacts and solidifiesthe serrations with the contiguous layer so that any tendency forseparation to take place is avoided. The invention also includes thefeeding of the web of paper from the supply roll in a special mannerwhich eliminates whip- :ping and breakage of the paper web.

The inventionwill be described in connection with a machine for makingpaper sticks for cotton swabs as shown in theaccompanying drawings.

In these drawings:

PEG. 1 is a view of the machine in side elevation;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the principal elements of themachine;

FIGS. 3-8 illustrate the paper feeding mechanism and are drawn to alarger scale than FIG. 1

FIG. 3 shows this feeding mechanism in vertical section;

FIG. 4 shows the feeding mechanism in viewed from the same side as FIG.1

PK .5 is a transverse section taken on line 55 of FIG. 3; 1

.FIG. 6 is a horizontal section taken on broken line 66 of FIG. 4- withthe axes of the various rollers shown in the same horizontal plane;

elevation and FIG. 7 is a side elevation of the paper in-feed table or 7platform;

FIG. 8 is a plan view of the in-feed table; FIG. 9 is a side elevationof the delivery conveyor for removing the completed paper sticks;

FIG. 10 is a plan view of the delivery conveyor; FIG. 11 shows the geardrive for the delivery conveyor and is a view in elevation lookingtowards the farther side of FIG. 3;

FIG. 12 is a sectional view taken on broken line 1212 of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 shows the first or entry sector member, the water feed mechanismand a part of the second or reducing sector member in side elevation anddrawn to a scale only slightly smaller than the scale of FIG. 3;

FIG. 14 (Sheet 9) is a vertical section taken on line 14-14 of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a detailed vertical section taken on line 1515 of FIG. 13;

FIG. 16 is a side elevation drawn to the same scale as FIG. 13 showingthe reducing sector member and its supporting mechanism in sideelevation;

FIG. 17 is a vertical section taken on broken line 17l7 of FIG. 16;

FIG. 18 is a view partly in vertical section and partly in elevationtaken on line 1818 of FIG. 14;

FIG. 19 is a side elevation of the third or pressure sector member andits mounting drawn to the same scale as FIGS. 13 and 16;

FIG. 20 is a plan view of the parts shown in FIG. 19;

FIG. 21 is a vertical section on line 21-21 of FIG. 19;

FIG. 22 is a detailed section on line 22-22 of FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 is a detailed section on line 2323 of FIG. 21;

FIG. 24 is a view partly in plan and partly in central section showingpart of the reel for the paper supply roll and its mounting on the baseframe of the machine, also drawn to about the same scale as FIGS. 13, 16and 19; and

FIG. 25 is a view in side elevation of the parts shown in FIG. 22looking from the right of that figure;

FIG. 26 is a vertical section similar to FIG. 3 partly broken awayshowing feed mechanism with rotary instead of reciprocating cuttingmechanism;

FIG. 27 is a transverse section taken on line 2727 of FIG. 26;

FIG. 28 is a side elevation taken on line 2828 of FIG. 27;

FIG. 29 is a side elevation taken on line 29-29 of FIG. 27;

FIG. 30 is an enlarged elevation of the platen roll showing the knifeimpression which serves as a die;

FIG. 31 is an enlarged partial elevation of the rotary knife or cutter;

FIG. 32 is a bottom view of the cutter; and

FIGS. 33 and 34 are sections taken on lines Sit-33 and 3434 of FIG. 31.

Referring now to these drawings and initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, themachine comprises a housing I mounted on a sub-frame or base 2, thewhole advantageously being supported on a set of casters 3 so that itmay be moved from one location to another.

The components of the apparatus comprise a paper feeding unit ormechanism indicated generally by reference numeral d, and a paper stickmaking mechanism.

A general description of the stick making mechanism will be given first.It includes a main wheel or drum and a series, in this case 3, of rigidsector members 6, 7 and 8. Located between the sectors 6 and 7 at thebottom of drum 5 there is a moistening device 9 (FIGS. 2 and 13) forsupplying water or other suitable liquid to the paper coils. Asindicated diagrammatically in FIG. 2, the three sector members 6, '7 and3 are supported in spaced relation to the face of Wheel 5 to form agenerally circular stick-forming or reducing channel Ill which isthicker at its entrance end 11 than at its dischage end 12. The gap Aadjacent entrance 11 is approximately 11', and gap D at the dischargeend is .100".

The machine shown and described herein is intended for the making ofpaper sticks which are in diameter and 2%" in length. The paper fromwhich the sticks are made is some .003" in thickness. The face of themain wheel or drum 5 and the widths of the three sector members, namely,entry sector member 6, reduction sector 7 and pressure sector 8, allhave a width of 2%". Both the wheel and the three sector members havesurfaces of abrasive material which grip the paper effectively. Thewheel 5 has narrow flanges 13 on each side, one of which is shown inFIG. 1, for the purpose of preventing sidewise shifting of the paperrolls in the channel It Flange 13 on the front is of transparent plasticso that the progress of stick formation can be observed.

Associated with the paper feed mechanism 4 is a severing mechanismconsisting of a reciprocating knife blade 14 and stationary block 15which sever from the web of paper 16 successive sections or strips 17,and there is also a curling mechanism which imparts a curl to each ofthese paper sections. This curl is engaged by the rotating surface ofdrum 5 and the stationary surface of the entry sector 6 (FIG. 2), andthe relative rotation results in converting the successive curled strips17 into coils 18.

As each of these coils is rolled forward between the graduallyapproaching surfaces of wheel 5 and the sectors 6, 7 and 8, the coils,which are loose at first, are rolled into tight coils and these coilsare made tighter and tighter and smaller and smaller as they progressaround wheel or drum 5. The coils are spaced from about 1 /2" to about 3apart, depending on the speed of knife 14. As each coil 18 passes themoistening device 9 it receives moisture which is absorbed into thelayers of paper and which activates the starch therein and causes theadjacent layers to adhere to one another. Reduction sector 7 is somounted and adjusted as to bring about the principal reduction indiameter of the paper coils, and by the time they have reached thepressure sector 8 their diameter has about reached the final dimension.

Pressure sector 8 may be so adjusted that there is a somewhat furtherreduction in diameter as the paper rolls pass along the first part ofthis sector, but after the rolls traverse one-half to of the length ofthis sector their size remains constant, pressure being applied by theconcentric portion of this sector to insure roundness and smoothness,and to allow the adhesive to partially set be fore the sticks aredelivered at the discharge end 12. At this point they are received on anendless conveyor and removed from the machine.

Returning to FIG. 1, wheel or drum 5 is mounted on shaft 19 which iscarried in suitable bearings within housing 1 and projects forwardly tosupport the Wheel outside of the housing. Wheel 5 is rotated at aconstant speed by means of an electric motor 20 which drives the wheelthrough a reduction gearing 21 and endless belt 22. The electricalsupply to motor 26 is through a main switch 23 and a start-and-stopbutton switch 24. The paper feed mechanism is driven by a separate motor25 and endless belt 26. This motor is mounted upon a frame 27 whichprojects to the left of housing 1. Motor 25 is con-trolled by a secondstart-and-stop button switch 23.

The paper feeding and crimping unit 4 includes its own frame 2 (FIG. 3)which rests upon and is secured to an inclined member 3d that forms partof frame 27 of the machine. Frame 29 includes a front side plate 31 anda rear side plate 32. There is a platform or shelf 33 over which thepaper web 16 is moved by a driven knurled feed roller 34 and acooperating rubber faced idler roller 35. Platform 33 extends betweenthe side plates 31 and 32. The shaft 56 of driven roller 34 rotates inhearings in side plates 31 and 32 (FIG. 6). Rubber faced roller 35,however, is mounted to rotate in bearings which are supported by bracketmembers 37 which can be raised to permit the insertion of paper web 16.

This bracket 37 is pivoted at 38 between upright extensions 3? whichproject from the respective side plates 31 and 32. Release levers 4t)are pivoted at 41 on the opposite sides of bracket 37. a When inhorizontal position, these levers engage the inner ends of adjustablescrews 42 and thereby clamp bracket 37 in the position shown in FIG. 3.By swinging the release levers 4t) upwardly they are disengaged from thescrews 42, and bracket 37 with roller 35 can be raised so as to allowthe paper web 16 to be placed in position over feed roller 34. Both thesteel knurled feed roller 34 and its cooperating rubber faced idlerroller 35 are grooved as shown in FIG. 6. The extension of platform 33at the right of roller 34 in FIG. 3 is supported by a series of bridgeswhich are received in these grooves. Such extension supports the web asit approaches the knives 14, 15.

The paper web 16 approaches platform 33 over an idler guide roll 43 atthe outer end of the platform and then passes between a pair of sideguides 44 which guide the opposite edges of the paper and direct the webto the feed rollers 34, 35. Guides 44 are adjustable as shown in FIG. 7for the purpose of accommodating paper webs of different widths, thewider webs being used when it is desired to make the longer sizes ofpaper sticks.

Parallel with knurled feed roll 34 and spaced to the right of it, asshown in FIG. 3, is a steel crimper roll 45 mounted upon a shaft 46which rotates in bearing openings in side plates 31 and 32. Directlyabove crimp- .er roll 45 there is a cooperating rubber faced roller 47.Roller 47 rotates in bearings supported inside of the respective sideplates 31 and 32. Adjusting screws such as the screw indicated at 48 inFIGS. 3 and 4 are provided for maintaining the desired fixed pressurebetween crimping roll 4-5 and roller 47 to bring about the crimping ofthe paper strips as they pass between these rolls after being severed bythe knife 14.

The severing knife 14 and stationary block are mounted midway betweenthe feed rolls 34, 35 and the crimping roll combination 45, 4?. Knife 14is mounted on a vertically movable holder 49 to which the knife isadjustably secured by means of a series of screws 5%. Knife holder 49slides in guides 5 arranged at its opposite sides and secured to therespective side plates 31 and 32. A stabilizing roller 52 (FIG. 3)rotates on a stud 53 which projects rearwardly from the lower portion ofknife holder 4?. Roller 52 is disposed between the parallel surfaces 54of a slot in a vertical member 55 which is secured near its upper andlower ends to the frame 29 of the feeding unit 4 by means of screws asshown in FIG. 3.

Knife holder 49 and knife 14 are reciprocated by means of a cam 56having a cam slot 57 in its circular face which actuates a followerroller 58 mounted on the rear of the upper portion of knife holder 49.Cam 56 rotates on a stationary vertical shaft 59 which is secured at itslower and upper ends to the frame 29 and platform 33.

In order to drive the cam 56 and the paper web feeding and crimpingmechanism a cross shaft 64) (FIG. 6) is continuously rotated by drivingmotor through belt 26. Shaft 60 rotates in bearings mounted in aperturesin the two side plates 31 and 32 which support the shaft just above thelevel of cam 56. A bevelled pinion 61 secured to shaft 60 meshes withthe teeth of a bevelled gear 62 which is secured within a circularrecess in cam 56 by means of screws as shown in FIG. 3.

At the end of shaft 60 which projects beyond side plate 31 a spur gear63 is mounted. This gear meshes with an idler gear 64 which is mountedon the outer end of a short idler shaft 65 shown in FIG. 6. Idler gear64 in turn meshes with a gear 66 mounted on the outer end of shaft 46for the crimping roll 45. At the opposite end of shaft 16 and outside ofside plate 32 there is a gear 67 which drives paper feed shaft 36 (roll3%) through an idler gear 68 and a gear 69 on this shaft.

Idler gear 68 also serves to drive the take-oil? or discharge conveyoras will now be described. This conveyor, which is of the endless typeand indicated by reference numeral '76 in FIGS. 3, 9 and 10 forms ahorizontal shelf which is parallel with above platform 33. The finishedpaper sticks are removed from the surface of drum 5 beyond the end ofpressure sector 8 by a stripper plate 7 9a. Conveyor 7t) is supportedbetween a drive roll shaft 71 at its right end and idler roll shaft 72at its left end.

Drive shaft 71 rotates in bearings near its opposite ends which aresupported in apertures in upward extensions 31a and 32a of the frameside plates 31 and 32. The idler shaft 72 rotates in bearings carried inside members 73 (FIG. 10) which are supported at their outer ends onstruts 74. Side members 73 also serve as edge guides for the sides ofconveyor 7 0.

Drive roll shaft 71 for the discharge conveyor 70 is rototed by a gear75 fixed to its outer end beyond side plate extension 32a. This gear 75is driven from idler gear 68 through a gear train shown in FIGS. 11 and12 and consisting of'gears 76, 77, pinion '78, gear 79 arid pinion 80,which is mounted on a short shaft 31 on which idler gear 63 is mounted.

The crim-per roll 45 and its shaft 46 are driven at a slightly higherspeed than the feed roller 34 and its shaft 36. Severing knife 14 isprovided with serrated or sawtooth-shaped teeth 82 which are sloped withrespect to the sides of the knife so that the tops of the teeth aresharply pointed. The serrated edge of knife blade 14 extendshorizontally across the width of the paper feedway (FIG. 5) and thus theentire width of the web 16 is severed simultaneously.

The knife cam 56 rotates rapidly and reciprocates the knife severalhundred times per minute; hence each cutting action is almostinstantaneous. The rotation of the crimper roll 46 at a somewhat higherspeed than the feed roll 34 maintains the paper taut during eachsevering action, and advances the strip 17 away from the knife and fromthe forward end of the web 16. There is an instantaneous retardingaction by the tips of the knife 14 which tends to cause the pull of thecrimping roll 45 to produce a slight tearing of the serrated tips. Knife14 is located approximately halfway between the crimping roll 45 andfeed roller 34. Since the cut is almost instantaneous all of the teethcontact and sever the paper at the same time across its width, producinga serrated edge at each end of the paper strip.

The three gears 63, 64, and 66 are replaceable with other sets of gearsto either speed up or slow down the operation of the knife 14 and thefeeding and crimping mechanism for the purpose of either shortening orlengthening the strips or sections 17, should it be desired to makeeither smaller or larger diameter paper sticks.

In order to insure that the successive strips 17 are each completelydisengaged from the crimper roll 45 a set of stripper fingers 83 shownin front view in FIG. 14 and in side view in FIG. 3 are provided. Thesestripper fingers are mounted at the top of a stripper holder 84. Theyare narrow, blade-like members with pointed tips, these tips extendinginto circular grooves 85 (FIG. 6) in crimper roll 45, the tips of thestrippers being disposed slightly below the surface of the crimper roll.The lower portion of stripper holder 84 has a series of equally spacedvertical fingers 86 to cooperate with the upper end of the entry sectormember 6, as will be described.

Attention is now directed to FIGS. 13-18 which show the arrangement ofentry sector member 6, reducing sector member 7 and the water feeddevice f.

These sector members 6 and 7 are supported on the opposite sides of avertically adjustable bracket support 87 which is of generallyrectangular shape in front View as shown in FIG. 13. Bracket support 87consists of a vertical rear plate 38 and two parallel plates 38a and3812 which are welded thereto and project forwardly therefrom. Backplate 88 is mounted by means of a pair of screws 89 on the face of arectangular steel pad 9% which is fixed to the front surface of housing1 (FIG. 14) by welding or otherwise. Bracket support 87 can bevertically adjusted by means of a screw 91, and a lock nut, to properlyset the positions of sector members 6 and 7 as will be described.

Screws 8? pass through vertical slots in the back plate 53 in order topermit this adjustment, and which are tightened after the adjustment ismade. The entry sector

1. IN A MACHINE FOR FORMING PAPER STICKS BY TIGHTLY ROLLING ANDCOMPACTING SECTIONS OF PAPER WEB, A DRUM ARRANGED TO ROTATE CONTINUOUSLYON A FIXED HORIZONTAL AXIS, A SERIES OF RIGID AND UNYIELDING SECTORMEMBERS DISPOSED AROUND THE PERIPHERY OF THE DRUM BUT EXTENDING LESSTHAN THE FULL CIRCUMFERENCE THEREOF, THE WIDTH OF THE SECTOR MEMBERSBEING APPROXIMATELY THE SAME AS THE DRUM FACE, MEANS FOR SUPPORTING EACHOF THE SECTOR MEMBERS IN FIXED BUT INDEPENDENTLY ADJUSTABLE POSITIONSPACED FROM THE FACE OF THE DRUM, THE INTAKE END OF THE SERIES BEINGSPACED FARTHER FROM THE DRUM THAN THE DELIVERY END OF THE SERIES ANDPROVIDING A REDUCING CHANNEL WHICH HAS A GRADUALLY SMALLER THICKNESSFROM ONE END TO THE OTHER REGARDLESS OF THE DIAMETER OF PAPER STICKWHICH THE MA-